Trump Makes ‘Blackface’ Joke, Says He’d Win Israel Prime Minister Vote At Private GOP Fundraiser, Per ‘Axios’

On Friday, following a House of Representatives vote condemning hatred of Jews, Muslims, and other religious groups, Donald Trump told reporters that the House vote was a “disgrace,” and went on to assert that “Democrats have become an anti-Israel party, the anti-Jewish party,” as The Inquisitr reported.

But at a private Republican National Committee fundraising event on Friday night, Trump not only repeated that remark, adding that he did not know how any Jewish person could vote Democratic, he also made a series of equally outrageous and potentially offensive remarks, including a joke about “blackface” that may have been a reference to the controversy surrounding Virginia’s democratic Governor Ralph Northam in early February. Northam was accused of posing in blackface — that is, using makeup to darken his skin and impersonate a black person — in a medical school yearbook photo, according to CNN.

The leaked Trump remarks were reported by the political site Axios, which also reported that security measures surrounding the Friday event at Trump’s Palm Beach Florida, Mar-a-Lago complex were so strict that those in attendance were required to place their cell phones in “magnetized” pouches that would presumably prevent any signal from reaching the phones, or being transmitted by the attendees mobile devices — as well as any surreptitious recording of Trump’s remarks.

According to Axios, Trump at the event described peering out the White House windows to observe Secret Service agents guarding the building, saying “They’re in the trees, on the lawn,” and adding, “they’re in blackface.” The site said that the “blackface” reference appeared to be a “joking” reference to masks worn by Secret Service agents at night. But because the agents were in “blackface” Trump said, “they have to take them away.”

Axios said that the quotes of Trump’s remarks were based on the recollections of sources who attended the Mar-a-Lago fundraiser.

In addition to his claim that Democrats “hate Jewish people,” Trump also boasted that he would win an election for prime minister in Israel because, if he were to run, he would receive 98 percent support in voter opinion polls.

The actual Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing a tough reelection battle in the country’s April 9 balloting after Israel’s attorney general said in late February that as a result of a two-year investigation, he intended to indict Netanyahu on bribery and corruption charges, as NBC News reported.

But Netanyahu has based his reelection bid heavily on his close relationship with Trump, according to The New York Times, using Trump’s image in campaign ads and posters, because Trump’s popularity is high in Israel, compared to other countries.

While Trump’s claim of “98 percent” support in Israel appears considerably exaggerated, a recent Pew Research Center survey showed that while Trump receives “confidence” ratings of only 28 percent in Great Britain, 25 percent in Canada, and below 10 percent in France and Germany, Israelis give Trump a 69 percent “confidence” rating.

In the United States, Trump is struggling with a 41.8 percent approval rating, in an average of all polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight.com.